


The Bamboo Snakes

by Alliance (Xazz)



Series: Cypress Hall [38]
Category: Flight Rising
Genre: Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2019-07-04 02:11:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15831627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xazz/pseuds/Alliance
Summary: Most of the dragons in this story don't actually exist so they're getting full image cards instead of links aayyye





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Most of the dragons in this story don't actually exist so they're getting full image cards instead of links aayyye

 

Bonten

 

Blue

Green

Zeypher

Jeddie

Jos

Bonten hung to the top of a great bamboo stalk. It swayed in the wind, the hollow stalks clattering together like natural wind chimes. Out in the distance he could see the wall of clouds that dominated most of the southwestern sky: the Crescendo. He still couldn’t get over the fact that it was spinning the _wrong_ way. It had spun one way his entire life and now it just… wasn’t. He could hardly believe it. A few great airships hung in the air like kites around the typhoon. At this distance, Bonten couldn’t see the dragons braving the winds of the storm but he knew they were there.

He let go of the stalk and put his wings at just the right angle to literally float away like a dandelion seed. He let the wind take on the brunt of the work of getting him airborne before he coiled his body like a spring and started twirling like a corkscrew through the air. His wings didn’t so much fly him as directed the wind around him. He flew up the Ascent to an older, far more ancient, bamboo forest where he landed on a stalk of bamboo thicker around than him. Bonten made some clicking with his mouth and after a few moments several more spirals and a lone skydancer appeared from the foliage.

“Took you long enough,” Jeddie complained a green and pink spiral. She was young, her eyes dark green on the scleras.

“Jeddie, shut up,” Green said. He and his brother Blue were basically coiled around the same spot on their bamboo. It was obvious why his name was named Green, he’d been blessed with the colors of old bamboo and matching eyes. Why his brother was named Blue was a complete mystery since he wasn’t blue at all but a faded pale green. Blue just said it was because their parents were unimaginative and jerks. No one argued against it. Blue was a _terrible_ name for a green dragon.

“You need to learn to be cool,” Zeypher said casually. The way her bright green ghost markings were arranged on dark scales made her look even more chill than she acted and Zeypher was about as calm as a Wind Spiral could be without falling into a coma.

“Well spite me for being anxious about this,” Jeddie snapped.

“Well I’m here now,” Bonten rolled his eyes. “You ready?”

“As always,” Green said.

“Feels bad,” Jeddie said, her stalk starting to tremble from her nervous vibrating.

“Then don’t come,” Blue said. “If you’re just going to be a scaredy skydancer we don’t need you— no offense, Jos,” he added quickly to their sleek skydancer member who was hugging several bamboo stalks awkwardly to stay at the same level as them.

“Taken,” Jos said. Blue muttered under his breath something like a curse while Green snickered.

“Everyone shut up. At this rate they’ll hear us,” Bonten said.

“Yeah,” Green agreed with a firm nod.

“Everyone remember the plan? Everyone got your stuff?” More nodding from the others. “Okay. Let’s go,” he shifted his wings to catch the wind and the others effortlessly followed in the same manner. Only Jos struggled for a moment before getting the wind under his huge wings.

They flew down out of the ancient bamboo stand to where some of the bamboo had been cut away and below they could see a little village of raptorik. It was maybe half a dozen hovels and the raptorik’s bounced as they walked going about their business. Bonten had it on good authority that the raptorik had recently stolen something _very_ valuable and someone with a lot of power in the Cloudsong was willing to shell out a lot of gems for its return. They’d tracked the rumors to this _exact_ tribe of raptorik that had stolen it and now Bonten and his crew were going to get it back. Pretty clever of the Beastclan to leave it with an otherwise ‘peaceful’ tribe of raptorik to avoid suspicion. The more prepared village had already been assaulted by other parties like Bonten’s but had come up empty handed. But Bonten had a good feeling about this village and his gut was rarely wrong.

They circled high up on the wind, too high to cast shadows across the ground while Bonten scoped out the area one last time. Then he made a motion with his tail and in unison the six of them dive-bombed the village in a flurry of wings and stunning shrieks.

The raptorik never stood a chance. Even as the small group was figuring out where the attack was coming from and were moving to grab rudimentary weapons it was over. There hadn’t been many of them and even to a bunch of spirals raptorik were small pickings. “Call?” Bonten called after picking his claws out of the innards of some raptorik lady.

“Blue.”

“Green.”

“Zeypher,” she sounded bored even saying she was alive.

“Jeddie!”

“Jos.”

“Good, everyone’s alive,” Bonten picked his way around the little houses made pieces of young bamboo and thatch. With a swipe of his tail he knocked one over to show the inside. “Find that thing,” he said and smashed a jar of pottery to see its contents.

There was a myriad of crashing and smashing noises as his crew turned the village inside out. Bonten found nothing. He growled in frustration and tossed one of the pieces of the houses into the bamboo. “I haven’t found anything,” Jeddie said.

“Me neither,” Blue said.

“Same,” Jos said.

“It’s here. I know it’s here. Keep looking,” Bonten snapped.

“Bon, there’s nothing else here,” Green said. He wasn’t wrong. The six of them were in a mostly empty clearing now only full of dead bodies and destroyed homes.

“It’s _here_ ,” he insisted.

“Maybe they moved it?” Jos suggested lightly. “Maybe they knew we were coming and-

“Shhh,” Bonten held up a claw. Everyone grew quiet. “You hear that?” he asked. It was a soft whistling, constant, whistling. Not like the droning wind that was general background noise for the Plateau but a reedy whistle like when you blew air over a bottle.

“No?” Blue said.

“I hear it!” Jeddie cried and started bouncing.

“Shut up Jeddie,” Green snarled. “I can’t hear it,” he frowned.

“Sh sh sh,” Bonten shushed them in rapid succession. He lifted his ears, turning them both into and against the wind to try and hear it better. Then with a hop he skittered across the scattered thatching that had made up the raptorik homes. He used his wings and magic to blow back the thatch to reveal a reed tube stuck into the ground. It went into the ground. He started to dig. The others appeared next to him and started to dig too. They quickly unearthed a wooden hatch in the ground with the reed being the only marker and way to get air into the cavity below. Why the cavity would need air he had no idea but he wasn’t asking questions. “Told you it was here!” Bonten cried. “Jos, if you would,” he motioned to Jos who used his larger size to easily pry the hatch up.

“What-

“Is that-

“Why do they have that?”

“How’d they get that?”

“Disgusting,” Bonten concluded with a sneer. Down in the cavity under the hatch was a single, perfect, Wind egg. It was pale green with slightly darker swirls on it and he swore in the darkness it seemed to glow. “No wonder some richy richy up in the Cloudsong is paying so much for its retrieval. Some stupid beastclans stole their kid,” he scoffed. “Rich dragons sure are careless with their kids. Right Jos?” he nudged Jos in the ribs with the spade of his tail. Jos said nothing but just sort of rolled his eyes.

Bonten dropped down into the hole. “Someone head back to camp and get a bag so we can carry it safely. Last thing we want is an accident.”

“On it!” Jeddie said and darted off. If Bonten thought about it for more than a second he would have realized that Jeddie wanted to get away from the destroyed village and all the dead raptorik. He was too focused on the egg to worry about Jeddie. This would be the biggest payday of their lives. They’d be able to chill out for a while and not have to worry about scrounging for treasure or eating bugs from under logs like feral dragons.

“Pass it up, Bonten,” Green said.

“Yeah, right,” he nodded. The egg was pretty big, almost too big for him but Jos was too big to get down here.

In the end, it didn’t really matter. As soon as he touched it there was a huge CRACK! as several bamboo shoots suddenly snapped as a great wind boiled around them. There were just the normal clouds in the sky but the bottoms were racing and the shoots were trashing in the wind that was as hard and whipping as the Crescendo. “What—?” Blue asked looking up into the sky.

Bonten didn’t notice the cracking bamboo or the wind because the egg had exploded. Or that’s what it felt like when a great gust of wind from the egg hit him and sent him colliding with the wall of the hole. He was dazed and shook his head as he got himself back in order. His ears were ringing and he felt like he was seeing double. Then his eyes focused and he could focus on what was in front of him. “Shit,” he said. Sitting in front of him sure was something. A little perfect Wind Guardian, his eyes leaking pure Wind.


	2. Chapter 2

Once he got his wits back about him Bonten picked the hatchling up. Hatchling or not this little guy had a price on his head. He picked him up under the forelimbs. The Guardian chirped at him and when he did more Wind smoke leaked out of his mouth. It formed a cloud and before Bonten knew what was happening it collided with his face. He yelped and let go of the hatchling as his eyes dried out and his nose was filled with the smell of grass like he was flying over the open steppe. His nictitating membrane closed over his eyes to try and moisten his eyes but it didn’t help. He pressed his palms against his eyes even as he started to leak tears from how dry and painful his eyes were.

“Bon— Bon! You okay?” Green called and he felt the other spiral jump down into the hole with him.

“My _eyes_ ,” Bonten hissed. The tearing wasn’t helping his eyes either. He writhed and crawled into the sky before dropping back down onto the dirt his long form twisting and thrashing like the wind whipped bamboo.

Jos grabbed him and pulled him straight, undoing the knots and almost painful corkscrewing he was doing. They were talking but he couldn’t hear them. Someone grabbed his face, tearing away his claws and he cried out when they poured water from one of their skins across his face to try and flush his eyes. One of them even held his eyes open. He sputtered and nearly choked on the water but the pain had passed now. He went limp, his coils sagging in Jos’s arms. “You okay?” Jos asked nervously.

“Ow,” he whined like a hatchling.

“Windsinger’s farts what was that?!” Blue cried.

“I don’t know,” Green said. “It was that hatchling. It breathed on him. I saw it.”

Bonten struggled to get himself back together. Green and Blue were arguing about something a ways off and Jos was just casually holding him on one arm. He’d started wrapping around Jos’s arm without realizing it while trying to figure his shit out. Finally, he could open his eyes properly and looked around. They still hurt but not that searing pain of before. He still hissed as his eyes focused and he rubbed them. “What are you two arguing about now?” he asked as he dropped off Jos’s arm onto the dirt.

“What we’re going to do with this little asshole,” Blue said.

“Blue’s being ridiculous. He wants to kill it. I say just leave it here and forget about it.”

“It hurt Bon! We should kill it.”

“You’re both stupid,” Zeypher said. “That’s our prize.”

“Did you miss the part where it gave Bon some sort of weird trauma?” Blue demanded.

“We’re not killing it and we’re not leaving it here,” Bonten said and used magic to dry himself off with a stiff breeze. Not hard when the wind was still crashing around them.

“You’re crazy. It could do that to the rest of us,” Blue said.

“We’re not killing it,” Bonten snarled and spat out a bolt of concentrated Wind that blasted the ground right between Blue’s front claws making him flail and kick into the air. “If I find out you hurt it I’ll fucking kill you instead.”

“No need to get violent, Bonten,” Green said.

“This little guy is worth more gems than any of us has ever had. We’re turning it in for a prize. Where the Shade is Jeddie with that bag?” he looked around for the brightly colored spiral.

“I still say it’s a bad idea,” Blue frowned.

“No one asked your opinion, Blue,” Jos said.

“I’m hungry,” Zeypher said and started picking through some of the destroyed homes for some meat. Not raptorik meat because they weren’t savages but meat anyway.

Bonten dropped down into the hole again. He eyed the hatchling distrustfully but it was just looking up at him with his big green eyes. They weren’t leaking anymore and were just a perfect shade of Wind green. Whatever had made them like that before was apparently over. He patted the top of his head and they didn’t freak out or breathe wind onto him again. Instead, the wind around them grew still. Or as still as it could get on the Plateau. Instead of a violent wind storm the air returned to a nearly constant gentle breeze. Weird. “You’re a freak,” he told the Guardian. He picked them up and nothing happened. “Jos,” he called and passed him up to Jos. As soon as he did the Guardian started to squeak and protest, struggling against Jos’s claws.

“I wish it was still an egg, much less annoying,” Jos said and put the hatchling down. Bonten crawled out of the hole and the hatchling stumbled over to Bonten and happily nuzzled him. “It likes you.”

“Feeling isn’t mutual,” Bonten grumbled. “Where the Shade is Jeddie?” he looked around again. The bag for the egg could still hold the hatchling just fine.

“She probably got caught in the wind from earlier,” Zeypher called from where she was eating, her mouth full as she talked.

“Didn’t your mom ever teach you to not talk with your mouth full?” Jos grimaced.

“My mom was ready to send me to the Exalted ranks the second I was born so, no, not really,” Zeypher said with a shrug of her back wings. Jos grimaced again.

“SorryItooksolong!” Jeddie spiraled out of the air to practically crash into the ground. “That sudden windstorm caught me off guard can you believe those speeds. I got the bag where the egg? What’s… that?” she looked at the Guardian currently gnawing on Bonten’s arm wing. He hadn’t noticed until he looked down at the teething hatchling.

“Ew,” he scowled and pulled his wing from his mouth.

“Did it hatch? Really?” Jeddie gasped.

Green sighed, “Yes, Jeddie, really. No need to be so dramatic.”

“He’s going in the bag,” Bonten picked the Guardian up and carried him over to Jeddie. “Open the bag,” he ordered.

“I guess,” Jeddie opened the bag. Bonten stuffed the hatchling into the bag. It squeaked and squawked and tried to free itself but it was too clunky and wasn’t used to its limbs yet. “Alright, Jos, you take the bag. Everyone else get ready to return to camp. We’ll leave tomorrow for the Cloudsong.”

“If we can find it,” Green sighed.

“We’ll just follow the music, we’ll find it,” Bonten said firmly.

“Guess that works,” Green agreed but didn’t seem overly convinced.

“Does he have a name?” Jeddie asked as she handed the bag to Jos who wound the strap around his arms a few times.

“No and we’re not naming him. At all. Don’t give me that look Jeddie, we’re not naming it.”

“Yeah, don’t want a repeat with that foo from Creyor,” Blue teased her.

“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to talk about the foo,” Jos said sternly, voice hard and serious because Jeddie looked about to burst into tears.

“I was just having some fun,” Blue scoffed.

“Enough. Let’s go,” Bonten said and headed for the surrounding bamboo shoots. He climbed up to the top and set his wings like sails. The others followed his lead and took off, flying back to their camp further down the Ascent.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the nightly fire Bonten felt his eyes water. The others were asleep already, except Green who was on watch with him. The little Guardian insisted on sleeping _under_ him which was annoying. His eyes had been on and off aching all day since they got back with the damn hatchling.

“You okay?” Green asked.

“Yeah, mind your business,” Bonten grumbled.

“Want some water?”

 _“No_ ,” he growled.

Green leaned back a little, “Shit, okay, don’t be chill about it.”

Bonten grumbled under his breath and took his claws away. His mama said rubbing eyes just made them worse. He just closed his nictitating membrane over them to keep them from drying out. He felt restless and anxious sitting there now. Around the bamboo shivered and moaned in the wind. Normal Plateau noises that felt too loud to Bonten. He fixed his sight on a some swaying bamboo tops across the camp. Water leaked out of his eyes, curling around his muzzle but he didn’t wipe it away. He let it happen. He’d cry out whatever was caught in his eyes.

“Bon,” he jerked at the sound of Blue’s voice.

“What?”

“Shift’s over, go to sleep,” he frowned at Bonten. “Green said you were staring at the same patch of bamboo all night. You okay?”

“I’m _fine_ ,” he said.

Blue rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Jos and I got watch until daylight, go to sleep.”

“Yeah,” he unwound from the Guardian to coil on the ground on his own. He curled around his own body a few times and covered his head with his wings to block out the firelight. Water kept leaking out of his eyes even as he fell asleep.

He woke in the morning to the others making concerned sounds and worried hush speech. He grumbled and roused himself, pulling his wings off his face and pulling back the nictating membrane. His eyes felt so much better. Thank the Windsinger. He found himself half curled around the hatchling and that annoyed him. He pulled himself off of them with a grunt. They had their claw around his long body and kept him close.

“Bonten, you okay?” Jeddie asked nervously. She and Blue were vibrating across the camp and Green’s tail was curling anxiously.

“What?” he asked tiredly. “Yeah, I’m fine-“ he pushed of the Guardian and saw something strange. They didn’t look the same way they had last night. The hatchling’s hide had changed in the night. It was starting to become patterned. But even weirder was that… there were feathers starting to cover his head the same color as his eyes. “What happened?”

“You just woke up like that,” Jeddie blurted out.

“I meant the hatchling,” Bonten snapped. “What happened to him?”

“He was just like that,” Blue said.

“Bon, catch,” and Green lobbed a dagger at him. He caught it unthinkingly. “Look at yourself.”

“I don’t see what is wrong with you guys- WHAT!?” he shrieked and lurched into the air, body coiling furiously. “My face! What happened to my face!?” he frantically touched his face with one claw. Several green feathers had started to appear behind his eye ridges in front of his horns. And his scales… they were different. He was usually patterned like an odd green and brown flower with almost uncomfortable opalesque growths on his hide. They were lighter and his eyes had… rings around them? Very faint brown ones but distinct compared to what he had looked like.

“Bon!” Jos yelled after him and he looked down. He was very high up, his wings set at just the perfect angle to keep him nearly still in the air other than a slight undulating of his body.

He dropped like a stone and several claws tried to grab him when he tackled the big hatchling, brandishing the dagger. “What’d you do to me?” he demanded sharply. The hatchling looked up at him in confusion. “What did you do?” The hatchling just squeaked and playfully chomped the tip of his snout. “AHG!”

Jos and Zeypher yanked him off before he could do something that was probably stupid. “Bon, don’t be chill,” Jos said.

“What happened to me?” he asked and grabbed at one of the little feathers in front of his horns.

“I dunno,” Jos said.

“You look like the Windsinger,” Zeypher giggled.

“This isn’t _funny_ , Zeyph,” Bonten snarled.

“Calm down. Let the hurricane go, it won’t help here,” Jos said patiently. Bonten breathed heavily, dark and furious. “It was that guy there. Whatever he did,” he nodded at the hatchling. “I bet whoever wanted that egg knows what happened.”

“Do you think they could reverse it?”

“Maybe.”

Bonten ripped himself out of Jos and Zeypher’s grip. He flipped Green his dagger back. “Pack up the camp. We’re hunting the Cloudsong _now_.”

“You don’t wanna eat something?” Jessie asked nervously.

“ _No_. I wanna find out what by Icewarden’s beard happened to me!” he practically yelled. Jeddie hid behind Green, not liking being yelled at. “Pack everything up. We’re leaving as soon as possible,” and started doing just that. The hatchling ambled over to him and Bonten just shoved him back into the sack to his squeal of protest.


	4. Chapter 4

You could always hear the Cloudsong before you ever saw it. The sounds of music could be heard for miles, huge reed pipe flutes and wind chimes created a cacophony that even those on the ground could hear when the flotilla drifted across the sky. The thing about the Cloudsong that all Wind dragons learned eventually was that the Cloudsong wasn’t a location, at least no one location. Rather it was the flotilla made of huge airships, floating platforms, and gigantic kites that could stretch for dozens and dozens of miles. It was there that the oldest, greatest, and largest of all the Wind clans lived and worked, sometimes to the company of Sky Whales and various birds.

Finding the Cloudsong was easy, getting to it not so much. With the prevailing winds of the Plateau being stiff even on a mild day the Cloudsong could race across the face of the Plateau. It circled the Plateau once a month, as predictable as the turning the moon. Where it was at any given time was far from predictable.

Jos heard the music first, his ears more attuned to the sound than any of them. He’d been born amid the Cloudsong and did his best to make sure everyone forgot that fact. He stopped midair, the hatchling in the sack protesting loudly, and turned his head around to better catch the sound.

“What is it?” Jeddie called as they stopped, twisted around and twirled in the air around Jos who’s antenna was bobbing purposefully.

“Cloudsong is that way,” he pointed then squawked when he almost dropped the sack.

“Watch it!” Bonten yelled.

“You sure?” Green asked.

“Hard to forget that awful din,” Jos said, “Follow me,” and he winged away. The rest of them could only follow.

They had to fly for a while yet before the Cloudsong came into view. A practical caravan full of ships bigger than any of them had ever seen in their lives. They were all manner of means to stay afloat, balloons, kites, arcane crystals, wind crystals, anything to stay airborne. They came in every shape and size and covered in decorative paint. The predominant color of the Cloudsong was green but there was every color of the rainbow amid the Cloudsong. The ships stretched in four directions out to the horizon and vertically in space, none of them touching but an easy flight away.

Once they got sight of the Cloudsong it seemed to stay that distance for an hour as they flew into the wind towards them. The Cloudsong was so huge it was like approaching mountains. There was no end to them. They could see only a small slice of the great procession.

Then, finally, they arrived at one airship. It was shaped like a curl of wind and large enough to fit a great multitude. There was no door. You could just walk in.

Jos set the sack down and the hatchling tore his way out furiously, hissing and crawling his way over to Bonten who was silently levitating above the platform by making micro adjustments with his wings to stay airborne. The little shit sat under him and looked up at him like he could make Bonten come down. Wasn’t happening. He hated this stupid hatchling. The feathering on his face had gotten _even worse_ now, even covering part of his back and his wings. The hatchling’s patterns were coming in stronger too and he was also developing his own green feathering where his natural patterning didn’t show through. Zeypher thought it was weird. Usually lost eggs didn’t ever show any patterns but this little guy had gotten spotted and his wings shiny, his belly glimmering. It was weird.

Jos eventually came back with a representative of the clan they were on. Bonten knew not to talk. They all let Jos do the talking since he was the best at it and knew how to talk ‘proper’ or whatever bullshit ancient, snooty, Wind clans thought. Jos also spoke in elaborate Sihngari which they could all understand but knew aristocratic Wind clans liked to think ground living wind clans didn’t speak. Prissy assholes.

“Lorde here agreed to give us directions to who’s offered the bounty, but they wanna see the guy, I guess,” Jos said.

“Here,” Bonten said and landed just so he could shove the Guardian around a bit to get him on his feet and not flopped all over himself. The Wind Tundra came over to them, squinting with their bad eyesight behind a thick pair of pince nez. He sniffed at them and then pulled back sharply. “He doesn’t smell that bad, don’t be so chill,” Bonten said, very defensive that this stupid fluff ball didn’t like the hatchling.

“It isn’t that,” they said, only speaking Sihngari like a jerk. He looked at Bonten, “I don’t know if you want to return this to who’s collected the bounty for it,” he continued. “Not in this state.”

“Well I’d rather risk the gold,” Bonten didn’t speak Sihngari back at him, he spoke ‘lowly’ draconic like a reasonable dragon.

“Alright,” the tundra said slowly and made a face. “I heard about the theft a while ago. It happened during a harpy raid. The bounty is for the Windsinger’s Heart ship.” What a bunch of blow hards. “They usually list around the heart of the flotilla.”

“With a name like that they better,” Blue said. That earned a few snickers.

The Tundra wasn’t amused. “I don’t know how they’ll… take this,” he eyed the Guardian. “The bounty was for an egg. Not… this,” he sniffed a bit disdainfully.

“We will worry about that,” Bonten declared and scooped the hatchling back into the sack and handed it to Jos. “Let’s go.”

“Actually leave a legacy,” Jos told the Tundra before taking off. The Tundra puffed up furiously at the insult and they could hear him yelling after them. Their laughter was the only response.


	5. Chapter 5

The Windsinger’s Heart was the biggest, gaudiest, ugliest thing Bonten had ever seen seen. And that was saying something since a lot of the ship’s in the flotella were absolutely horrendous. But they finally got to the damn ship and Jos was very happy to drop the sack. The hatchling sprawled out wing over claw leaving a trail of green feathers. He immediately looked for Bonten who knew better than to land at all.

Jos landed and went to find someone to talk to. The runt tried to bat at Bonten’s tail curling in the air but he kept it out of reach. He checked to make sure the other Bamboo Snakes weren’t looking before teasing the little brat with the space of his tail. The hatchling jumped happily trying to teach his tail, making cute hatchling squeaking noises. As soon as the thought came to him he stopped doing that. Don’t get attached. Rule number fucking one! As it was they’d all had to stop Jeddie from naming the little bastard. She’d whined about it a good day and a half but had relented.

Jos finally came back with no less than twelve guards and a very regal skydancer who looked like wind in the sky. Bonten didn’t like them very much. They approached the group and Bonten hovered at eye level to the skydancer.

“Bonten, this is Patriarch Vizzi,” Jos said.

“Right. So, Vizzi, we brought you your stolen goods,” he pointed at the hatchling. “The reward is substantial your bounty said.”

Vizzi moved past Bonten to the hatchling and looked them over with gentle claws. “What happened?” he asked in Sihngari, directing the question to Jos.

“We found it in a raptorik village. When we went to retrieve it it damn exploded in my face and did this to me!” Bonten cried. He was really tired of being overlooked by these damn Cloudsong dragons just because the clan he’d been born in hadn’t been in the Cloudsong and his nest had been in a hollow of earth between two logs his parents had dug.

“You speak Sihngari?” Vizzi seemed genuinely shocked.

“You not see the eyes bird brain?” he pointed at his sharp green eyes which had been getting more and more intensely green the past few weeks since the little runt’s feathers had been coming in in full. “Wind born. Course I know the Sky Tongue, don’t fucking insult me.”

Vizzi was hatefully unruffled by his outburst. “I see,” he said. “Well… it seems there is nothing for it.”

“What? What does that mean?” Bonten demanded.

“Do you even know what you have?”

“The egg you wanted hatched. That’s all I care about. Now pay up,” Bonten held his claw out.

“I think as you have well stolen from my clan you have already received your payment,” he said calmly.

Bonten squinted at him and looked at the rest of the Bamboo Snakes who were equally confused, even Jos. “Come again?” he asked.

“What the bounty for was for an egg that had formed around a Shard of the Windsinger.”

“Well we did you one better. I don’t see the problem.”

Vizzi was not amused. “Tell me, bandit, did you always look like this?” he motioned to his new plumage and the fucking weird new opalesque growth growing between his horns and eyes.

“Well… no,” he admitted.

“Why do you think that is?” Vizzi sounded… bitter and his antenna kept bouncing. Oh that was delicious. “The Shard of the Windsinger bonded with you-

“WhaT?!” Bonten shouted. “Oh no. I did not sign up for this ordered and foolish nonsense. Rather take the wind from my wings,” he hated talking in Sihngari. It was nearly impossible to swear in it. “This is your bounty. I expect us to get paid.”

Vizzi sighed. “No.”

“What?” Bonten shrieked, furious. “We came a long today to bring you this little runt’! The least you could do is pay us for the trouble,” he seethed. Around them the wind was starting to whip harder. The low singing of the Cloudsong raising in fever pitch to a harsh, grating, wail. “Do not fuck with me, Vizzi,” he growled.

If Vizzi was worried he didn’t show it. Instead he was snatched out of the air by a guard with him and thrown into an airlock. But still the air shrieked. “The Shard of the Windsinger’s imprinting was to go to someone worthy,” Vizzi said. “Certainly not some lowly spiral with lucky breeding,” he looked Bonten up and down disdainfully.  Bonten bared his teeth at him in a snarl. He looked around at his fellow Snakes and saw they’d also been thrown into airlocks. “But there are no take backs. So while I do not agree with the Shard’s decision it is theirs all the same. Pay you for your bounty I will certainly not do as you have not completely your bounty. You did not bring me my missing egg. You failed in this: you get no payment.” He sighed and paced in front of Bonten’s airlock. “But I cannot allow the Shard to be left alone in the world without help.”

“Let me out!” Bonten cried.

“Perhaps once you’ve learned some manners, bandit,” Vizzi said, not stopping his thoughtful pacing. The wind began to scream and he finally took notice as clouds started to grow. He looked at the hatchling who was in an aggressive stance towards him, eyes glowing. “Cute,” he said without humor. He went over to the hatchling and gently pet his head. “It is alright little one. I don’t intend to hurt your bonded,” he said gently. “He is just acting silly.” Hatchlings could understand Sinhgari, any hatchling, double so a Wind one. Comprehension maybe some difficulty but they could understand. “I would never hurt him, or you. And this is the promise of the one who protected you for decades before you decided to join us,” he said in such a soothing tone.

The hatchling squeaked at him, unsure, and his eyes dimmed. The wind calmed to wailing. “That’s it. Don’t worry about your bandit. He will be fine. Despite his temper making him a menace to deal with.” The hatchling sneezed like he agreed.

Bonten ground his teeth, “Get away from him. If you aren’t paying them fuck you.”

Vizzi got to his proper height again and strode back over to him. “Listen well, Bonten, the bandit,” he said scornfully. “I will not pay a single gold of that bounty. But,” he said when Bonten snarled. “I cannot allow you to just galavant across the Plateau with the Shard as a. Pitiful. Hoard-less. Bandit,” he specifically enunciated each word and as he did Bonten growled louder and louder. “So you are free to go. And with you will be one of my Wind-guardians. They will accompany you with the seal of the Windsinger’s Heart. With it you will be able to purchase, with credit, whatever you desire within most trade camps, with the receipt sent to us.”

Bonten was so shocked he stopped growling. “You’re giving us something like that?”

He laughed in that ugly dry way pretentious wind dragons did. “Of course not. It will be with my Wind-guardian, who will accompany you, but more importantly, the Shard, wherever you go. They will be able to buy things with the credit: you, will not.”

Bonten growled. “So you’re leaving me with the runt and leaving me with a prissy guardian? Seems like a short stick,” Bonten growled.

“Well. It is that or we could kill you and hope the Shard bonds with someone more willing. But we’re a Wind clan of the Windsong; we aren’t barbarians. And there’s no telling if such a thing will even work. So you are free to go with your Shard and the Wind-guardian.”

“I don’t want the damn hatchling, I want money!”

“Too bad. It is that, or death, or nothing. Take your pick, bandit.”

Bonten snarled in hate and looked away from Vizzi. The hatchling wasn’t that big of a deal. They could handle keeping an eye on it. In exchange for being able to buy stuff when they wanted it whenever they wanted it? “Fine,” he spat out. “We’ll take the hatchling.”

“A wise decision. I’m surprised you could be so,” Vizzi said.

“Fuck you too Fizzy,” Bonten snarled.

“Release these Bamboo Snakes,” Vizzi said and started to walk away. “See them to proper accomodations and food while I select a Wind-guardian to accompany them.”

“Of course, Patriarch,” and the guard bowed a bit. Bonten was dropped out of his airlock and splattered on the floor. The hatchling romped over to him, the wind dying down to normal, to make sure he was okay.

“Get off,” Bonten shoved his worried head away. The hatchling just squeaked,

“Come with us,” the guards said.

The rest of the Bamboo Snakes came over to him. “Does this mean we can name him now?” Jeddie asked excitedly. Bonten did his best not to glare at her.


End file.
